Journey of the Heart

About Singer/Songwriter Wendy S. Kaneko

Imagine singer/songwriter Wendy Kaneko’s story as a movie. It opens with a glimpse of her childhood and a beloved Aunt fostering her creativity by bringing her art supplies. Her Mother was also an artist. It then cuts to early adulthood when she quits art school and runs off, landing in Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming a musician.

Fade to a montage of scenes that depict years going by as Wendy begins chasing, but never quite achieving, musical success in LA. Then the action slows as she meets, marries and moves to Oregon. She became a stay-at-home mom to two beautiful children. She was also a health advocate and husband helpmate.

A pause and the camera pans in on her, decades later, when she left Oregon, healing from disappointment and divorce. She bought a little house near the beach in Venice, Florida. There she rediscovers that her heart is still full of music. Happy ending is when Wendy Kaneko has a beautiful and moving portfolio of songs about her life and her feelings. She has written a poetry book from all her journals through the years. 

Wendy now hooks up with local musicians of like mind, sharing her music and her heart, with her community. “Singing for people was always my dream,” said Wendy. The first time she pursued that dream she was 21 years old living in Los Angeles. “I was naïve. I didn’t know what I was doing,” she said. “There were a lot of letdowns. I recorded music and even went on the road for a while, singing with (ex rat pack jazz player) Buddy Greco,” she said. The music and Wendy ‘sat on the shelf. ‘Wendy had no guidance or direction. The saving factor was that all along, Wendy was developing her interest in wellbeing by learning about healthy food, yoga, and meditation. 

She was teaching a meditation class for women when she met the man who was to become her husband, a Japanese American acupuncturist. Off to Portland, Oregon, they went with a young son and a baby daughter. “I threw myself into motherhood and I ran my husband’s acupuncture practice. I stayed home like a good woman and cooked,” she said. “I lost my confidence as a singer and songwriter. I didn’t sing for nearly 30 years,” she added.

After the children grew up and the marriage broke down, Wendy, pondering her next move, remembered her love for the beaches here in Venice and in Sarasota. “When I was going to Art school in Chicago (where she grew up) I fell in love with my art teacher. He had built a beautiful home in Venice, Florida. She lived with him for a few years before she moved to California to pursue music. Wendy recalled that era of her life in Venice as magical. She started waitressing at The Wildflower, the now defunct, first vegetarian restaurant on Siesta Key. “We would all play music at night. There used to be little surfing cottages along the beach. It was the coolest time and I have never forgotten it,” she said.

In Portland, after her divorce, she was working as the food demo person at the iconic Trader Joe’s. She learned it was preparing to open a store in Sarasota, Florida. She moved to the area along with her current partner, a man she had met and fallen in love with. They moved into a cute, affordable house less than a mile from the beach in Venice, Florida, in 2015. “I figured when I got older and couldn’t drive anymore, I could still walk to the water,” she said. The Venice life suits her. “I love that the city is small-ish and I live close to the beach.” Wendy has also become quite an avid gardener, taking solace and inspiration from the beauty of plants and their resilience as they grow, blossom and flower.

Back to the Music.. After Wendy settled again in Venice, an old friend advised her to start playing music again. She picked up her guitar, started singing and writing songs like crazy. She has no plans to stop. “What I have here is a lot of solitude and digging deep inside time. That helped me to find my voice again,” she said. Greatly influenced by the songs of Joni Mitchell and other 1970’s female singer/songwriters, Wendy’s music uses metaphor and poetic rhyming to paint images with words and music. “It was Joni who taught me to write from my gut and not be afraid to be vulnerable,” she said. Her songwriting process is organic. “I sit down and find a melody to match my mood and then the words will come alive. Whatever stirs my heart, then it takes months to ‘season’ the song.” Wendy’s songs reflect her life and it’s easy for her peers, those who have grown up loving the music of Joni Mitchell, for example, to relate to the feelings and the events. Things like living through divorce, processing one’s childhood, and being angry about red tide poisoning of our local waters. That is something we all know about. Wendy mentioned that people come up to her after performances and say, ‘wow, you have really been through a lot.’ She responds, “haven’t we all?“

Wendy writes and sings with raw honesty. She wants others to know that it’s possible to go through a lot and still find what brings you joy. It is never too late! She closes with, “I hope that people will be encouraged to follow what they love. No matter how difficult it is to face the shadows inside. They make us humble and stronger! All my experiences, like my songs, are from the heart.”

-Written by Emily Leinfuss from the Venice Florida Weekly